1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of detecting and diagnosing diabetic diseases and disorders using electrocardiogram analysis.
2. Description of the Related Art
For over a hundred years since the invention of the electrocardiograph which produces a graphical recording (i.e., an electrocardiogram (ECG) which may be recorded on paper or stored as electronic data) of electrical activity of a heart over time. In the prior art there are two main perspectives in the study of the heart's electrical signals: (1) morphology, the meaning of the different deflections that appear to repeat from beat to beat, and (2) rhythm (or arrhythmology as used herein), the meaning of the different periodicities of these signals. Morphology is the study of electrocardiograms and is focused on the detection of muscular or conductional abnormalities within a beat such as myocardial ion exchange abnormalities, myocardial ischemia, hypertrophies, bundle branch blocks, and the like. Arrhythmology is the study of electrical firing and conduction abnormalities such as ventricular premature beats, conduction blocks, and the like. An electrocardiogram as used herein may be a recording of a part of one (heart) beat, a complete beat, or more than one beat.
Myocardial ion exchange abnormalities are traditionally detected by morphological analysis, where an abnormally elevated or depressed deflection of the ST-segment within each beat indicates possible ischemia. It is noted, however, that prior art methods of electrocardiogram analysis and interpretation, mainly visual inspection of the time-domain electrocardiogram, have never before enabled the detection and diagnosis of diabetes. Instead, prior art methods of diabetes detection require a resource-rich observation (RRO), e.g., blood sampling from the subject for glucose measurements, which are invasive and require stringent testing procedures, e.g., fasting, and are subject to a wide degree of error.
Thus, a need exists for a method of detecting and diagnosing diabetes using a resource-limited observation (RLO) that is non-invasive, inexpensive, and time-efficient such as a conventional ECG.